Saturday, July 14, 2001
      Weitzel filings target 4 attorneys 
      By Angie Welling
      Deseret News staff writer

 
            Dr. Robert Weitzel has always maintained the prosecutors who last 
      year tried to convict him of five counts of first-degree murder acted 
      inappropriately. Now, it appears, he's acting on those allegations.

            Weitzel has filed formal complaints against Davis County Attorney 
      Mel Wilson, Deputy County Attorney Steven Major and Assistant Attorneys 
      General Charlene Barlow and Elizabeth Bowman with the Utah State Bar's 
      Office of Professional Conduct.
            According to documents obtained by the Deseret News, Weitzel filed 
      the four complaints April 26. The Office of Professional Conduct regulates 
      attorneys licensed to practice law in Utah by investigating reported 
      ethics violations and doling out punishments for such infractions.
            The handwritten complaints contain numerous allegations against the 
      four attorneys.
            As lead prosecutor on the case, Wilson "failed to refrain from 
      prosecution of a case not supported by probable cause" and offered 
      "pretrial prejudicial statements and proffers," Weitzel wrote.
            Billy Walker, senior counsel for the Office of Professional Conduct, 
      on Friday refused to comment on the complaints. Nor would he confirm the 
      existence of an investigation against the four members of the prosecution 
      team.
            "I don't comment about ongoing investigations or whether or not we 
      even have investigations," Walker said.
            Last July, Weitzel was convicted of felony manslaughter and 
      misdemeanor negligent homicide charges and sentenced to serve up to 15 
      years in prison in connection with the deaths of five elderly patients. 
      But 2nd District Judge Thomas L. Kay awarded Weitzel a new trial when he 
      determined prosecutors failed to notify defense attorneys of an expert 
      witness — University of Utah professor Perry Fine — who might have 
      testified on the defense's behalf.
            That failure to notify of the end-of-life care specialist is the 
      crux of Weitzel's complaints.
            Each complaint alleges the attorneys "failed to fulfill 
      prosecutorial duty by failing to disclose information (regarding) Dr. 
      Perry Fine, information deemed exculpatory, material evidence."
            Fine testified at a November post-trial hearing that he told Barlow 
      and Bowman he believed Weitzel's care may have been lacking but his 
      behavior was not criminal.
            Prosecutors did not call Fine to testify at Weitzel's eight-week 
      jury trial, turning instead to his partner, pain management expert 
      Bradford B. Hare. Hare told jurors he believed overdoses of morphine 
      resulted in one patient's death, and the other four received excessive 
      amounts of sedative medication.
            Prosecutors on Friday declined to comment on the investigation of 
      Weitzel's complaints.
            "We're precluded by the rules of professional responsibility from 
      discussing anything along those lines," Barlow said.
            The complaint process is open for anyone to file a grievance against 
      attorneys, Barlow said, and is not an automatic indication of misconduct.
            "It's the kind of thing that anyone can complain about anything and 
      anyone at anytime," she said.
            According to state bar records, Major, Barlow and Bowman have not 
      been subject to any public discipline. Wilson was publicly reprimanded in 
      1986 for a minor matter while in private practice.
            According to documents obtained by the Deseret News, the four asked 
      the bar's Ethics and Discipline Committee to continue the matter pending 
      Weitzel's ongoing criminal case, but the request was denied.
            If the committee finds any of the four attorneys did act in 
      violations of ethics standards, a formal action will be filed in district 
      court. Possible disciplinary action can range from minor, such as public 
      reprimand or probation, to severe, such as suspension or disbarment.
            Weitzel will next appear in state court Aug. 9 for a pretrial 
      conference on his upcoming second trial.
        
© 2001 Deseret News Publishing Company

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